Family

Family - Page Text Content

FC: Lew and Henry, ca. 1854 | Susan, ca. 1857 | Family

1: Esther Test Wallace | David Wallace | Zerelda Sanders Wallace | Wallace's mother, Esther, died when he was a child. His father, David, married 19-year-old Zerelda Sanders two years later. Though they got off to a rough start, Wallace later wrote that "...the world has been as unable to resist her as I was."

2: "What of success has come to me, all that I am, in fact, is owing to her, the girl of whom I am speaking. The admission is broad, yet it leaves justice but half done." - Lew Wallace | Lew Wallace carried this image of his wife, Susan, in a locket during the Civil War.

3: Susan Arnold Elston Wallace 1830 - 1907 | Susan grew up in one of the most affluent families in Crawfordsville with parents that prized education. Lew was smitten upon meeting this well-educated young woman, and they married in 1852. Though she remained largely behind the scenes, Susan played a vital role in Lew's life as his editor, companion, and inspiration.

4: Like her husband, Susan was an accomplished author. Her six published books include The Storied Sea (1884), Ginevra: A Christmas Story (1887), The Land of the Pueblos (1888), The Repose in Egypt: A Medley (1888), Along the Bosphorus and Other Sketches (1898), and The City of the King: What the Child Jesus Saw and Heard (1903).

5: "I have been subject to her, and her gentle soul has controlled me, and bent me to her wishes, but unselfishly, and always for my good, and always so deftly that I was as one blind to the domination." -Lew Wallace | Susan supported Lew in all that he did, even traveling to be with him during the Civil War, his time as Governor of New Mexico Territory and to Turkey while he was Ambassador. She even finished his autobiography as his ghost writer after his death in 1905.

6: Henry Lane Wallace 1853 - 1926 | "Up with the sun at morning, away to the garden he hies to see if the sleepy blossoms have begun to open their eyes, running a race with the wind, his step as light and fleet, under my window I hear the patter of little feet." - from "The Patter of Little Feet" by Susan Wallace, ca. 1860

7: Lew printed this 1863 letter to his son Henry so the young boy could read it.

8: As an adult, Henry Lane Wallace worked as his father's business manager, and also dabbled in other business ventures around the country. He married Margaret Noble in 1885, and had two sons: Lew Jr. and William "Tee" Noble. His hobby as a photographer provided many images of Wallace in his later years. | After both of his parents died, Henry provided for the care of the Study as a museum.

9: Margaret Noble Wallace | Henry oversaw the construction and management of the Blacherne Apartment building in Indianapolis - the first modern apartment building in the city.

10: Fishing with Lew Jr. | Fiddling with Tee | Grandsons

11: "...two lovely boys who have come like summer sunshine into the winter of our lives. Without them we live in the valley of dry bones." - Susan Wallace, 1896 | Tee, Wallace, and Lew Jr. ca. 1897. Photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society.

12: Lewis Wallace, Jr. 1892-1949

13: Lew Jr. attended Yale University and served in WWI. He married Josephine Parrot in 1917. Together they had four children - Lew III, William Noble, Susan, and Margaret. In 1941, Lew Jr. sold his grandfather's Study and the grounds to the Community House Association. On August 21, 1941, that group presented the deed to the City of Crawfordsville.

14: William Noble (Tee) Wallace 1895-1918

15: Tee attended Yale University and enlisted in the American Field Ambulance Service with the French Army in June, 1916. In December, he returned home to complete his senior year and graduated from Yale in June 1917. One month later he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. Tee served in France until he was killed by shell fire near St. Etienne. Tee received several medals for his service, including the Navy Cross which was awarded to him posthumously.

16: The Wallace Home | Image courtesy of the Crawfordsville District Public Library

17: Lew and Susan built this house in 1868 in Elston Grove and lived there until Lew's death in 1905. After Susan's death in 1907, the house was vacant until Henry sold it in 1919. | The house was owned by the Tribe of Ben-Hur for a short time until it was purchased by a Tribe member and extensively remodeled in 1937.

18: The Carriage House | The Wallace's Carriage House was built in 1875. It contained a stable, hayloft, and carriage storage space and is also believed to have been used by Wallace as a workshop. | The Carriage House can be seen to the left of the Wallace's home in this historic photo. Below is the Carriage House as it looks today, after a 2006 rehabilitation project.

19: Water Babble | "The water fairly dances out of the earth, rushes over a bed of watercress...ripples down the hillside and creates music of its own, a laughing babble." -Lew Wallace | The Wallace's country home

20: The Kankakee River | Lew owned a houseboat on the Kankakee River called "The Thing." He liked to spend time there pursuing one of his favorite hobbies - fishing.